Expound: Romans 1:1-23 - Part B

That's how Paul uses this phrase, I'm a debtor, to both Greeks and barbarians, both to wise and unwise. And what is the debt? The debt is the Gospel. I am in debt to share the message with people, including Romans, and my obligation is to not hoard the Gospel, but to herald the Gospel.

That's the debt. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman believers, he greeted them with a prayer of thanks for them. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares how you can cultivate gratitude and love for others in your life. But before we begin, we want to let you know about a resource that will help strengthen your faith as you explore the lives of notable women in the Bible. Women play a huge role in the biblical narrative. From Eve to Esther to Bathsheba to Priscilla, we find stories of faith and failings. Lenya Heitzig explores four queens of the Bible in her new teaching series. Here's where we see Bernice sitting right by his side. Unfortunately, Bernice is going to go with the flow, succumb to peer pressure, and remain silent. Hear more from Lenya as she explores four different queens in Scripture.

And when you give $35 or more today, we'll send you the Queens of the Bible collection of teachings as our way of saying thank you. Peer pressure is a powerful thing. The crowd was watching. Bernice was watching.

Agrippa was watching. And you know you do stupid things in peer pressure. You'll say you don't like a movie you really like because everybody else says they don't like it. Whatever it is, you'll succumb to the peer pressure. Get your copy of these special teachings.

Visit connectwithskip.com slash offer to give online securely today or call 800-922-1888. Now, we're in Romans Chapter 1. As Skip Heitzig gets into today's message. Saul means asked of God. He was named after King Saul, who was the first king of Israel from the tribe of Benjamin.

Paul the Apostle was also a Benjamite from the tribe of Benjamin. And he was named after one of the heroes in antiquity, King Saul. Saul of Tarsus was his name.

He was from the area of Cilicia, ancient region, which is today eastern Turkey. And he was from the city of Tarsus. The name Saul I get. The name Paul, as I mentioned, means little. Now, we don't exactly know why he was named Paul. That's his Gentile name or his Greek name, Paul.

I have told you before though that in ancient times people would name their children based on circumstances of their birth. It could be that Paul was a small child and he could have grown up to be a small man. Now, we don't know. However, there's only one piece of information regarding how Paul the Apostle looked from ancient records.

Only one. And it could be true. It could be false.

We don't know. But the only surviving description we have of what Paul the Apostle looked like is interesting. It says he was a very short man. And he was sort of hunched over. He had a hooked nose, according to this description, losing his hair on top. And he had one, his eyebrows, it says joined in the middle. So a unibrow, hooked nose, unibrow, balding, short guy. And the description says, bold-legged.

So maybe it's true, maybe it's not true. It is interesting if that's the way he looked, because he will mention that, you know, when you look at me you might not think I'm impressive, but wait till you read my stuff. He's very, very powerful.

Not much to look at in person, but quite bold and quite persuasive in his speech and in his letter. So Paul, and he introduces himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. Not Paul the great Apostle, but Paul a slave.

It's one of his favorite titles for himself. Dulos is the Greek term. Called an apostle. And I like this, separated to the gospel of God. Before Paul was saved, he was a Pharisee. He says in Galatians, when he, Philippians, when he writes a letter, I was a Pharisee, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning righteousness which comes from the law, I was blameless.

Perfect. The word Pharisee means separated. Parashim is the Hebrew word. It means to be separated. And the idea is separated from people. Separated from activities. Separated from sinfulness.

I live a life of separation from these things. Very stringent Pharisees prided themselves in being unlike everybody else, separated from them. And so you would see devout Pharisees walking down the streets, and if Gentiles were coming, they would be separated from them.

They would be separated and if Gentiles were coming their way, they would, the Pharisees would take their robes and place them very tight across their bodies as if to say, I won't even get close to you or let my robes rustle in your general direction. You are so stinking defiled, you Gentile, that I'm not going to get cooties from you. I'm just going to be separated from you. But here, Paul doesn't say I'm separated from something. He says I'm separated to something. That's important.

A lot of people take refuge in a negative righteousness. I don't do this and I don't do that and I don't do the other thing. Cool. What do you do?

What is it you do? What are you separated unto? I think it's possible to have a saved soul but a lost life. Your soul is saved, you're going to heaven, but you don't do anything with your life. You're not separated to some grand purpose to be used by God. I'm separated to the gospel.

I want to make sure people hear this good news. That's what gospel means of Jesus Christ. Which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. The Old Testament anticipated the New Testament. The prophet Jeremiah in chapter 39 said, behold the days are coming says the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.

Not like the old covenant. So it was promised before in the Holy Scripture. The prophet Isaiah predicts the coming of Christ. Predicts his sacrifice on the cross on Isaiah 53. Concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. God began to promise the Messiah very definitely unmistakably when David was born and began to grow and God began to make a covenant with King David. God appeared to him. God told David that he was going to make an everlasting covenant with him. So one day David, this is how it all came about, was living in his palace in Jerusalem.

He's the second king, he's got it made, he's got servants, he's got a nice you know big screen TV, he's got a lot of TV, he's got lots of donkeys in the garage, you know he's got maidservants etc. and he's just looking around going man I got it good. But he looked out and he noticed the tabernacle, not the temple, the tabernacle. There's a tent outside. They had taken the Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle from the house of Obed-Edom and moved it to Jerusalem but it stayed a tabernacle, a tent. And David just said man here I'm living in this great palace and God's living in a tent, he's camping out.

And so he brought Nathan in the prophet and he goes Nathan I've got this idea. I'm looking around, I've got this palace, I've got it made, I'm living in high on the hog in this beautiful, beautiful palatial expression but God's still living in that tent, that tabernacle. I'm going to build God a house.

I'm going to spare no expense. I'm going to make him a great house. And Nathan the prophet said David that's an awesome idea.

Do all that is in your heart. That night the Lord woke Nathan up from a sleep and he said Nathan you've spoke out of turn, you spoke rashly, you told David do all that is in your heart. I didn't tell David to build me a house. I didn't tell him to build me a temple. In fact, David can't build me a temple. His hands are full of blood. He's a bloody man.

He's a man of war. I don't want him building me a temple so you're going to have to go back and tell him he can't build me a temple. His son will but you go tell him I'm going to build him a house, a dynasty. I'm going to use him and his children after him to build a kingdom, an everlasting kingdom. Somebody from the house of David will reign upon the throne forever. You go tell him that.

So next day Nathan comes in and goes David I'm sorry dude I spoke out of turn. You know I told you said do all that is in your heart and God said can't do that. You're a man of blood. You're not building the temple. But that's the bad news. Now let me tell you the good news. God's going to build you a house man.

He's going to build you a dynasty. And this covenant that God made with him is the idea of this promise that Paul is mentioning. It was mentioned before in the Old Testament through David. By the time we get to Isaiah that notion is clearly established. That the Messiah is going to come. Somebody is going to come. Somebody's going to be born to fulfill the promise that God made for him. And that's the promise that God made to David. For unto us a child is born. For unto us a son is given.

And the government will be on his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Upon the throne of David to order it and establish it from this time forth, even forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.

So it's unmistakable. God promised a kingdom through somebody from the line of King David. So that is important to the Jewish mentality because of the promise that God made to the Jewish nation. And so it's concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power. According to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead through whom we have received grace, unmerited favor, undeserved blessing, and apostleship. That's what he was called to do. An apostle means a sent out one.

God sent him out with a task, with a mission. We've received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom you also, you in Rome, you believers in Rome, are the called of Jesus Christ. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. Now look at the words to be. They're italicized.

See them? When they're italicized, it means they're not in the original. They're added by the translators. The translators are trying to get us to make sense of it, but in the original it doesn't say you are called to be saints because if we read that, especially some of us, depending on how we grew up, we might start thinking, oh, well, maybe if I do good things and I die and miracles are done after I'm dead in my name and people pray to me once I'm dead and things happen and the church canonizes me as a saint, then I'll be a saint.

But notice, take out the words to be, since they're italicized and not in the original. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints. A saint is not a dead person. A saint is a living person. The word saint means set apart one, hagios. The word holy and saint come from the same root word in Greek. So you're a saint.

I grew up in the Catholic Church. We had saints that we prayed to, saints that had been canonized. That is not the biblical notion of a saint. Saints are God's people, living. So you're a saint. I'm a saint. And feel free to call me Saint Skip.

It's got a ring to it, don't you think? It's biblical. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul had never been to Rome. He's anxious to get there. He's just about to mention his desires, long standing, but it begs the question, if Paul is writing to Christians in Rome and Paul has never been to Rome, then how did the church at Rome get started? It wasn't started by Paul. Probably the church at Rome was started as a result of visitors to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, the Bible tells us there were people from the Old Testament who were living in Rome. They were living in the Old Testament.

The Bible tells us there were people from all sorts of places in the world. Elamites, Parthians, Medes, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes. So they came, they saw, they heard the preaching of Peter. They were there on the day of Pentecost. They saw the great miracles that took place. Maybe some of them were baptized of the 3,000 by the apostles in Jerusalem. And so they were saved in Jerusalem, went back to Rome, started a church. And that church bore fruit.

And Paul was anxious to go see them. And so in verse eight, he says, first, I thank my God, true Jesus Christ for y'all. Paul's a southerner, you see, for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of the sun, that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request, if by some means, now at last, I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established. Back to verse eight, Paul mentions that he prays for them. He does that in most of his letters. But notice how he begins verse eight, his prayer for them. First, he says, I thank my God. It's a shame that some of us think of prayer as a crisis event. I'm in trouble, I better pray. Things are getting really bad, all we can do is pray. First, I thank God. That's first in his prayer activities, not, I'm in trouble, help.

First, I thank God. In everything, give thanks, Paul said, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Think of how much we have to be thankful for.

And that is something we should be reminding ourselves of daily, and our thanksgiving should be daily. Psalm 103, bless the Lord, oh my soul, let all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who rescues your life from destruction, who forgives all your pain, who forgives all your destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who fills your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Gives you food to eat, gives you tender mercies, gives you blessings, forgiven your sins.

Pause and think of those things and go, thank you Lord, thank you Lord. Some people hear that and they go, yeah, but it's so much more fun to complain. That's just my nature, man, I like to gripe. Let me tell you that complaining is not a spiritual gift. And when you complain, really, half the people that hear your complaints, they don't even care. And the other half are glad you finally got what's coming to you. So rather than complaining, it's better to be thankful. And you know, that's something you learn as a Christian. Paul said, while he was in jail, he said, I've learned in every state, whatever state I'm in, to be content.

You learn that, you learn content, but you learn thanksgiving. I love the story about the boy who built a little boat. He labored long on it, he glued it up, he painted it up, and it was just a perfect day with a light breeze. And he took it out to the pond near his house, and he set the boat on the pond, and the little sails were filled with a slight breeze, and it started going across the pond, and he just took such delight in it. It's like, man, I've been planning for this day, this is perfect.

But while it was right about in the middle of the lake, the slight breeze developed into a strong wind, and prevailing winds took over, and the little boat sank. And instead of complaining and griping, he smiled really big, and he goes, what a great day to fly a kite. And he went home and got his kite. So that's a good way to look at life.

It's a good day to fly a kite. Didn't go as I planned, but I wonder what God has in store. So first, I thank God, Paul said.

And then he made requests. And he said at verse 11, I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift that you may be established. In other words, I want to come and I want to serve you, but look at how he adjusts that a little bit in verse 12. That is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me. Paul, the great apostle, was never above telling his audience, you really encourage me. I really need to be together with you.

It's not just me ministering to you, it's you ministering back to me as well. And so he's writing a letter, but he longs to see them. And there's something about writing or texting or emailing that just isn't something that's satisfying. You can only communicate so much. You want to eventually be eye to eye and see the person and get the body language and hear the inflection and the intonation.

A full orb to communication. When I was dating my wife, before she was my wife, she was my girlfriend, Lenya. I lived in Huntington Beach, California. She lived in Hawaii. And it's too, you know, in those days, they didn't have, it wasn't like today with the cell phones. It was very expensive to make a long distance phone call to Hawaii.

So it was very sparing. But we wrote letters. And I still have those letters. I've kept them, that correspondence. And I go over it, I realize by the longing in the letters, it's just very unsatisfying to just write without being able to see face to face.

Now, of course, we have since seen each other face to face, and the rest is history. But so it was with Paul in the Romans. Verse 13, Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I plan to come to you, but was hindered until now, that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor, both to the Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. I really want to go to Rome, Paul said, not as a tourist, not as a sightseer, but as a fruit bearer. I want to bear fruit among you. I want to do something spiritual in your midst.

I want you to encourage me, but I want to really be able to minister to you in the spirit as well. Interesting in verse 14, that phrase, I am a debtor, both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. Let me unravel that. There's a couple of ways you can be in debt. Number one, you can borrow money from somebody. Now you are in debt to that person. You have to pay off whatever you have borrowed from them, and you are in debt to them until you pay it off.

There's a second way you can be in debt. You can be given money from someone for someone else, a third party. At that point, you are a debtor to the third party. You are a debtor to the third party.

You have an obligation. You owe a debt, and the way you pay it off is you take the money given to you and not spend it on yourself. You deliver it to them. You are in debt to them until you have given it to them. That's how Paul uses this phrase, I am a debtor, to both Greeks and barbarians, both to wise and unwise. And what is the debt? The debt is the gospel. The debt is the gospel. I am in debt to share the message with people, including Romans, and my obligation is to not hoard the gospel but to herald the gospel.

That's the debt. That's Skip Heitzig with a message from his series, Expound Romance. Now here's Skip to tell you about how you can keep encouraging messages like this coming your way as you help connect others to the good news of Jesus.

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